


It Must Be Tuesday

by respoftw



Series: Tumblr Prompts - McShep edition [5]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: BAMF!Rodney, Getting Together, Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-12
Updated: 2016-07-12
Packaged: 2018-07-23 14:55:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7467678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respoftw/pseuds/respoftw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An off-world mission goes wrong....it must be Tuesday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Must Be Tuesday

**Author's Note:**

> For @lysmsmith who asked for some BAMF!Rodney.

The shift of muscle under Rodney's skin was unexpected.  Seeing it for the first time, John realised that he'd never seen Rodney shirtless before.  Not that he made a habit out of seeing his fellow Lanteans shirtless, but they were a team, he should have at least seen Rodney stripping off post-mission in the shared shower room, shouldn't he?   
  
If asked, he'd probably have guessed that Rodney was too self-conscious to take part in that particular military tradition - Lord knows that he'd had his own issues about stripping down in the locker room since Ronon joined the team.  But watching him now as he limbered up in the square of PX-287, it's clear that he had absolutely nothing to be self conscious about.   
  
Still, that doesn't make what Rodney is about to do a good idea.   
  
"Rodney," John itches to reach out to him but the damn rope around his wrists stops him, "you don't have to do this."  His wrists ache and the awkward angle that he's been tied to the post behind him is already hell on his shoulders but none of that compares to the pain that watching this happen will cause.     
  
"I'll be fine Colonel," Rodney's voice only wavered a bit and John had never been more proud of him.  Or so pissed off at him.  "How bad could it be, right?"   
  
The door of the village hall opened to reveal a great, hulking villager that made even Ronon seem small.  He stalked towards Rodney, towering over him and forcing Rodney to look up.  Rodney gulped.   
  
John renewed his struggles to free himself.  That guy was going to squash Rodney like a bug.   _How bad could it be?_  Pretty damn bad.   
  


* * *

John should have known that this mission was going to go to hell.  It was a Tuesday, after all.     
  
After they had accidentally filled their canteens from the sacred well the villagers who had seemed so nice and welcoming at first had turned into a frenzied mob hellbent on making them seek redemption through mortal combat.  And they weren't talking about the video game.   
  
John's sense of relief when Ronon and Teyla had escaped through the 'gate had disappeared when Rodney tripped over a tree root, leaving them both stuck on the wrong side of the event horizon with an angry mob closing in.   
  
Finding out that their captors chose who would engage in the fighting on the basis of who looked the strongest made John's plan of holding out until Ronon and Teyla arrived with help crumble.     
  
He had never hated Rodney's broad shoulders until that moment.   
  


* * *

The villagers had been canny enough to dial out in order to prevent any rescue efforts from interrupting their ritual.   
  
Thirty-eight minutes.  The maximum time a Stargate can stay operational.  Five minutes to march John and Rodney back to the village.  Another five to realise that they would have to restrain John to stop him from interfering and at least another ten to strip Rodney of his shirt and prepare him for the battle.   
  
"Fifteen minutes, buddy," he called out.  "You just need to hold on for fifteen minutes."   
  
From the look on Rodney's face, he was as aware as John that it might as well be fifteen hours. 

The village elder called for silence.   John only half-listened to the words she spoke - in the end they all boiled down to one thing: he was about to watch his best friend get beaten to death.  His attempts to free himself doubled.  Carson was going to give him hell for the state of his wrists later, he could already feel the slippery sign of blood flowing from the abrasions, but John would put up with a million times worse if it stopped the worse from happening,   
  
The behemoth of a man lumbered towards Rodney and John put his years of training to use, analysing everything from his gait to his arm reach, looking for weaknesses, for any advantage Rodney could use.   
  
_Slow_ , John thought.  Ronon might have been the exception but generally men that big were slower.  All Rodney had to do was stay out of his reach.  John had saw how fast Rodney could move when a new delivery of coffee came in on the Daedalus; he could do it now, when it mattered.   
  
Just as John opened his mouth to yell this advice to Rodney, the man's fist lashed out - on its way to smash into Rodney's head with enough force to end this before it had even started.  John could see it happen, he could _see_ the impact, he could _see_ Rodney's eyes roll back and his knees crumple.  He could _see_ Rodney laid out unconscious and for the taking and the words of encouragement choked him.   
  
Through the haze of terror, it took John a second to realise that none of that had happened.  The man had missed.  Rodney had managed to dodge the blow.   
  
"Way to go, buddy!" John forgot that his arms were tied behind him for a moment, wrenching his shoulder as he tried to pump his fist in the air.  "Come on, Rodney.  You can do this."   
  
John grinned as Rodney managed to find the energy to spare and glare at him, even while he managed to side step another attack.  He whooped in delight as Rodney ducked and dived his way through a series of moves that he could swear he'd saw Teyla use.  By his internal count, Rodney was a third of the way there.  Ten more minutes and help would be coming through the 'gate.  They could make it out of this alive yet.

It was only when the crowd started to cheer that John knew that something had gone very wrong.  From this angle, all he saw was the hulking back of Rodney’s opponent until Rodney suddenly appeared, his face creased with pain, one arm wrapped around his ribs.  

John paled.  A glancing hit.  He knew injuries and he could tell from the way Rodney was holding himself that this was bad.  A broken rib.  Maybe more than one.

_Shit._

* * *

 

The roar of the crowd and the heavy, strained sound of his own breathing buzzed in Rodney’s ears - almost deafening him.  Somehow, through all of that, he could hear John’s bellow of rage.  Or maybe he just wanted to see John one last time before the inevitable happened.  Either way, Rodney lifted his head high enough to look towards the top of the square where John was tied.

John’s mouth was open, his face screwed up in a promise of retribution as he rocked his body violently, trying to free himself from his bonds.

Rodney wanted to tell him to stop; that he was an inch away from pulling his arms out their sockets but these would probably be his last words to John and he didn’t want them to be anything so nagging.  Even if he couldn't imagine anything more important than making sure John got out of this OK.

John’s eyes should have been furious.  Rodney had seen him in the heat of battle enough times to know that John Sheppard’s hazel eyes could be terrifying, focused and flashing with thunder, the usual golden hue darkening to a promise of victory.  They didn’t look that way now.

Rodney was astonished to see that they were swimming with tears.  That was wrong.  John shouldn’t ever cry.  Especially not over him.  Not when he had brought this on himself, tripping over some damn tree root like it was his first time running for his life.

John’s eyes locked on to his and Rodney knew this was it, he could tell by John’s eyes - already filled with grief - that he knew too.  The crowd increased their volume and Rodney knew that his opponent was moving again.  Still, he couldn’t seem to tear his eyes from John’s face - there were worse things to see as your last, he supposed.  Rodney smiled through the pain and nodded at John.   

They were good, right?  

John nodded back, the first tear falling from his eye as he mouthed what really should have been Rodney’s last words.  

“I love you.”

Rodney had never been one for cliches but it really did feel like time stood still.  

John loved him.

Wait.  John loved him and he was only just finding out when it was too late to do anything about it?

_Screw that._

* * *

Ronon wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he and a team of marines charged through the gate but it wasn’t a bruised and battered McKay with his tongue down Sheppard’s throat while the villagers that had been chasing them with sticks just forty minutes ago pulled the still form of  a man the size of his father out of the village square.

  
_Huh,_ he thought as he holstered his gun.   _It must be Tuesday._

**Author's Note:**

> Hit me up on [tumblr](http://buffycuddlespigs.tumblr.com)


End file.
